No to corrupt leaders

In the Nov. 16 issue of The Jakarta Post, several experts gave their views regarding the state of our society, titled Indonesia mentally ill. I suppose all sound members of our society agree with their opinions.

In the book titled Productivity: The human side written by Robert Blake and Jane Mouten, two of the world's most renowned experts in Behavioral Sciences, they describe how convergence (auto-kinetic effect) influences the attitudes, opinions and feelings of people in social life. Consequently, the behavior of society is strongly directed by their leaders.

Who are the top leaders in our society? I hope we agree that the top leaders are: 1) state leaders (military and political), and 2) religious leaders.

If we are to be honest, we have to admit that during the last two decades our top leaders have basically been concerned with two things. The first is how to remain in power, and the second, how to accumulate and show off wealth.

Both of these interests lead to acts of terrorism and corruption, as well as collusion and nepotistic practices, which tend to erode our sense of humanity.

Unfortunately, our religious leaders have failed to counteract this kind of behavior, and heroes of humanity have never become models for the power- and wealth-hungry people.

It seems only time will tell when we will have leaders who care.

THERESIA PERMADI, Jakarta